Vectra Blue LED Conversion

BE WARNED YOU REALLY MUST WANT TO DO THIS AS IT TAKES HOURS FOR THE FUL JOB
AND IS FRUSTRATING (Less so using this guide, which I wished I would have had!)
Ok for this you will need:
Blue Tachoes are easiest for the dash and TID / MID, for these:
2 x (Not diffused) Speedo clocks
1 x plug and play (diffused) mileage counter
2 x plug and play The TID display (Diffused) (not multifunction)
OR 6 x plug and play for Multifunction computer with trip display
As many 3mm blue LEDs and and 3mm white LEDs as you have switches above centre panel to do.
As many 3mm LEDs as you have window switches (2 or four really)
9 Blue LEDs for centre console (trust me its the only way it looks good)
Soldering iron, loads of tools. And as many 500Ohm resistors as LEDs
Dashboard LEDs
OK, easy bits first:
To get at the bulbs you first need to remove the dashboard. The first thing to remove is the Steering wheel
Shroud. This can be done my unscrewing the two screws located on either side of the steering wheel as
shown on the diagram below.

Behind the steering column shroud can be seen two screws that hold the lower part of the dash in place.
These need to be unscrewed.

Next take away the Heater grills using a small flat blade screwdriver or feeler gauges down the sides to dis
lodge the mount points. Inside the heater grills you will see a couple more screws. Remove these and the
main surround for the dash will come away with a bit of fiddling.

Now undo the remaining screws that support the top of the Speedo Unit and remove from the rear the Multi
/ Triple Info Display lead then slowly remove the clocks from there housing and exit from the fixed
position towards the centre of the car. Next is to replace the bulbs with the LEDs.

You will notice from your LED pack that the LEDs for the dash are located within holders thus all bulbs
are a simple swap. The image below shows a Multi Info Display, however Triple Info is the same but only
having two bulbs.

Undo the two-dash lights, the Speedo light and the clock lights. If you have any trouble you can use a 6mm
nut to twist them out. Note that the one for the mileage have a white covering on them, this is to diffuse the
light, do not remove as otherwise you will have concentrated blue spots instead of a blue illumination.
Now fit the blue tachoes plug and play parts and your away. They do get brighter over the next week or
two, dont ask me why I am at a loss to explain it. I feel that this leaves the dash a little dim at the top, so I
am going to (at some point) put three more 5mm blue LEDs along the top one at the temp gauge, one at the
top of speedo, one on the rev counter. Dont panic you can hardly see the dash ones during the day, but look
good at night. Something like this for the TID:

OK now we get to the realm of difficult, its at least three to five spanners here:

Switches
All resistors go on the switched side on the leg of the LED (thats shortest one)
You will need a white 3mm LED for each switch (as well as 500 OHM resistors!) for this as well, as the
original bulbs dont work afterwards for some reason, again I am at a loss to explain.
These are indeed a pain to do, each switch is differently wired, but the principles remain the same. To
remove a switch simply get a small flat blade screw driver and lever it out from the centre trim.
Ok once that is done you need to take the switch itself apart, which is fiddly to say the least. Lever the
black parts of the switch over the retaining bumps on the inner (these are often coloured, eg. Yellow for the
rear heater, blue for air recirculation), be careful not to break the outside of the switch, then slide the inside
out.
Once you have done this you will be confronted with the inside part of the switch, pull the biscuit
containing the two bulbs off, just leaving a mass off brass pins. I tired to figure out an easy way to modify
the biscuit, but couldnt really work one out, so the solution is the get rid of it!
You will need to locate the earth (seems to be in the middle of most the switches I have done) and the
illumination feed pin and the switch feed pin, this can be roughly worked out from looking where the
biscuit was fitted, both bulbs should be wired to the earth, each one should have another pin to it,
simple(ish).
OK, now you need to scratch off the brass plating (with a knife or screwdriver) on the pins you have found
as the solder will not stick other wise. As the biscuit is no longer there the idea is to slip the LEDs back
into the switch (it has two holes for the bulbs). Measure the length of the switch and cut the led to the
correct length and solder on (I would make it slightly longer, just so you have room to adjust.. Now just put
the switch back together, ensuring that the leds go through the correct holes.
It should be that easy, but youll probably find it wont work the first couple of times around so check that:
1.
2.
3.

No LED legs are touching each other or any of the pins.

Try swapping the legs around as they maybe on the wrong one (either switch or earth)
Try swapping the led legs around, positive/negative

Centre Console
OK this requires again a bit of patience, but now you have this guide it should be 10 times quicker for you
than I.
Removal of the centre console is a mission within itself. Firstly remove the centre trim cover where the
heater/ fan controls are. To do this simply get a screw driver and lever it off its clips, it is quite stiff but
eventually will come out. Once these are out you will see two screws securing the centre controls in,
remove these screws. You will then see that it also sits in two holes at the bottom, push the control panel
back and tilt to the right or left and bring forwards out of the recess.
OK you will see that there is an electrical input at the top, push the clip down and slide the clip out towards
the back. The centre controller will still feel tight to get out. Tilt it forwards and you will see the console
operates by controlling a series of cables. These cables are easily removed by pushing downward on the
plastic fasteners and un hooking the eyelet from the appropriate dial. You should at this point note which
cable goes where, but it is pretty easy as you will notice they are colour co-ordinated.
OK now take it in the house and prepare to have some fun !
Below is a photo of my centre console. It is really hard to see as my camera is rubbish:

Firstly I have left one original bulb in as with an led it is difficult to illuminate the whole temperature
control evenly and also a different colour changes the red/blue colour, which I wished to keep. This bulb is
obviously in the top left. To make life easier pull of the hand control part of the dial, this pulls of with a bit
of force.
What you need to do for the LEDs is find the earth and the light positive switch; fortunately I have already
found this out for you. The resistor (short side of LED) connects to the top brass track of the controller and
the other leg connects to the one beneath.
The top LEDs for the fan switches and the top of the fan direction are easy, simply scratch the brass away
(otherwise solder will not stick) and put in place, you may need to angle them to suit. It is best at this stage
to keep hold of the cover for the console; That way you can see roughly where the LEDs should go and
how they should be angled. The fun LEDs are the ones at the bottom of the controller. I overcame this
problem as you can see from the above diagram with a couple of bits of wire, soldered to where the top
tracks and bringing down a feed to the LEDs. These are held in place by our good old friend superglue.
Again place and angle these to suit.
I also popped out to the car several times during this just to ensure that eash LED I put in worked as its
easier to trouble shoot one at a time. This takes seconds as you can simply plug the power plug in and turn
on the sidelights, without re-attaching the cables etc.
Its incredibly fiddly but looks great when done. Putting back together is the reverse of fitting, however be
careful that you:
1.
2.
3.

Connect the electric feed connector without bending any pins

You put the correct cables to the correct switch without puling the cables (otherwise switch
position wont match up to what the car thinks its on)
If it doesnt work refer to the switch trouble-shooting guide.

Window Switches:
Light Switch:
Cigarette Lighter: